In the UK in the event that a person dies intestate (without leaving a will) the usual probate process can not always happen as it is not always clear who should inherit the deceased's estate and assets. You could be an heir to the unclaimed estate of a relative you've lost touch with or never knew existed!
An heir search can be expensive and time consuming and professional heir hunters do not always take every case and even experts in probate genealogy do not always find the heir so lost heirs can sometimes remain lost. Any assets in the estate of the deceased can remain unclaimed for years and an heir hunters estate case cannot always be solved without help.
Heir Hound is a free service that emails you the list of new unclaimed estates every week so you'll know if an estate you could be entitled to is published.